


Ohm and Minx (Part 1)

by GoldieGirl



Series: This City Is Ours [2]
Category: Banana Bus Squad
Genre: Also Kryoz and Smitty, And Bryce, F/F, Mentions of Russ Money, Mentions of pedophilia but it's fake
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-15
Updated: 2018-06-15
Packaged: 2019-05-23 16:46:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14938101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoldieGirl/pseuds/GoldieGirl
Summary: “How long have you and Minx known each other?”“Maybe fifteen years. I’m not sure exactly, just that it’s been a long time. I couldn’t even tell you how long I was in the gang with her, or when I switched over to the BBS. It’s not something that I talk about too often.”“Why not?”“It’s a long story. I don’t know if anyone would want to sit through it.”“I would.” At Ohm’s confused expression, Delirious smiled. “I mean, what else do we fucking have to do?”“Alright.” Ohm said. He gestured to the other couch. “Then make yourself comfortable. We’re going to be here a while.”





	Ohm and Minx (Part 1)

“How long have you and Minx known each other?”

Ohm looked up from his spot on the couch and across the room to where Delirious was rummaging through the fridge. They were the only two awake, or, rather, the only two awake that were still in the BBS base. Somewhere upstairs, Smitty, Kryoz, and Bryce were all asleep, but everyone else was out. It had only been a week since the attack on La Chrome’s base, so those who weren’t injured were off tying up loose ends or helping put the finishing touches to Nanners’ base, which was still in somewhat of a state of disrepair. Some were looking for Matt, but Ohm didn’t want to think about that.

“Should you be moving around?” he responded.

“I’ve had worse than a few bullets to my legs, and I’ve didn’t have people to help me then. You’re the one who shouldn’t be moving yet. How’d you get down here?”

“Luke helped me. I was tired of being upstairs.”

Delirious nodded. He felt the same way. Most of the BBS had been trying to force him to stay in his room, but, since all of them were gone except for the other injured people and Smitty, who genuinely thought it was funny when people broke the rules, Delirious figured that no one could stop him now.

“Anyway, why do you ask?”

Delirious set down the jelly he had been using. “I’m just curious. Everyone makes it to be this big thing, your friendship with all of those people. Minx is the one you seem to be the closest with, so.”

Ohm knew exactly what he meant, and smiled at his own memories. “Maybe fifteen years. I’m not sure exactly, just that it’s been a long time. I couldn’t even tell you how long I was in the gang with her, or when I switched over to the BBS. It’s not something that I talk about too often.”

“Why not?”

“It’s a long story. I don’t know if anyone would want to sit through it.”

“I would.” At Ohm’s confused expression, Delirious smiled. “I mean, what else do we fucking have to do?”

“Alright.” Ohm said. He gestured to the other couch. “Then make yourself comfortable. We’re going to be here a while.”

.

.

.

Ryan was fifteen when the accident happened.

Previous to it, he’d considered himself to be a pretty normal kid. Los Santos wasn’t a particularly safe city as La Chrome was still in control, the police didn’t know how to defend citizens from gangs, and there were still intense turf wars as the city’s gangs tried to stake a claim to their own areas, but, other than where he lived, everything about him was standard. Ryan got good grades in school, had loving parents and siblings, liked to play video games and baseball, and wanted to be a dad when he got older.

Everything changed for him one windy and drizzling Tuesday in the middle of October.

As a sophomore, Ryan was used to walking home from school everyday. His second oldest brother, Joel, who was a senior, had his own car and tended to leave straight from school to go on some adventure with his friends, and his sister, Ashley, a junior, liked to take the bus down to the mall with her best friend, leaving Ryan to find his own way home. He had a few friends, but none close enough to go to their house every day, and none that would want to walk the forty five minutes to Ryan’s, so he was stuck managing himself.

That said, he never minded the walk. It let him take his mind off of any problems or homework, and he was able to just enjoy the sounds of the city instead of the noise of his house. Because, before the accident, Ryan was, in fact, just a normal kid who got annoyed with his large family and how little space he got. He shared a room with his younger brother, who was in seventh grade, his sister was in the room to their left, and his older brother, who enjoyed locking the door and blasting heavy metal at odd hours of the night, had the room across the hall. Their house was big enough to hold them, but it was small, and four kids, two parents, and a shepard puppy named Violet being in each others’ spaces one hundred percent of the time was a little much for him.

He was on his way home, raincoat wrapped tightly around his body and backpack probably soaking wet, on this particular Tuesday, when a car pulled up next to him. He didn’t recognize it at first, or, actually, at all, until the window rolled down, revealing his oldest brother, Derrick. Ryan loved his other siblings, but he idolized Derrick, who was twenty three, always had shiny new rides, and would bring gifts to Ryan whenever he visited home.

And, unbeknownst to everyone in their family except for Ryan, Derrick was in a gang.

Ryan knew better than to join a gang himself, he’d gotten that talk from many family members and the police officers who visited his schools every September to remind them that an education was more important than quick cash, but it didn’t mean that he wasn’t exposed to the seeming glory that came with stealing and having lots of money and being cool. For fifteen year old Ryan, that’s what Derrick was- cool.

“Hey little bro.” Derrick said, grinning at him just like any other time he came to visit. “Hop on in.”

So that’s what Ryan did.

They drove the remainder of the way, talking about Ryan’s school day and how sophomore year was going. That’s another thing that Ryan loved about Derrick. He actually cared about what Ryan would say, and was invested in Ryan’s stories about class and friends as if he had also been there. That was always hard for Ryan to get from his parents, even if they loved him. They had five children and full time jobs and, even if his mom loved to hear his stories and his dad wanted to talk about baseball practice or play a quick round of cards, they were so busy that it was never uninterrupted time. With Derrick, Ryan knew that he had someone’s undivided attention, and it was something he so greatly craved.

His mom, and of course Violet, were home when they pulled up. His mom wasn’t normally home at this time of day, instead out doing real estate stuff, so he rushed into the house to give her a quick hug and exclaim that Derrick had come to visit. His eldest brother, always the gentleman (another thing Ryan liked about him), waited at the door until their mom ushered him in, and then leaned down to give her a soft kiss on the cheek and quick hug.

They played Monopoly until his younger brother, Spencer, got home from his club, and then the three of them started up a different game. Ryan also liked that Derrick played games with his little brothers, even if they were small and annoying like Spencer was. When Spencer left to go to the bathroom, and their mom was in the kitchen, Derrick reached into his pocket and slid Ryan a fifty. Birthday cash was Ryan’s primary source of income so he took the fifty with a beaming grin and a silent thanks.

Ashley got home from the mall and was so surprised to see Derrick that she dropped her backpack and ran across the room to throw herself into his arms. Their family loved Derrick because Derrick was so great, but Ryan knew that he loved Derrick the most.

His dad and Joel got home at the same time, both parking in the street. His dad and Derrick hugged, and Joel and Derrick did their secret handshake (Ryan wanted a secret handshake with Derrick too but Joel said he was too little, which Ryan thought was dumb because he was in high school so he could have a handshake if he wanted one), and then the entire family was home. It was rare that the household was all in the same place at the same time, nonetheless with Derrick there, but Ryan figured that it was just another good thing about his oldest brother.

Their mom made dinner and they all sat at the big table in the little dining room and ate together. Ryan sat with Derrick on one side, Ash on the other, and Spencer, who kept swinging his feet back and forth and kicking Ryan in the shins, across from him. Even with Spencer being annoying, Ryan was laughing and joking and so happy to have them all there. It almost felt like a holiday.

After dinner, Derrick sat with Ryan and Spencer, helping them do their homework. Ryan didn’t want Spencer there so he could hang out with Derrick himself, but Ash and Joel both went up to their rooms to study so he figured that he could deal with just one of his other siblings. He took a speedy shower, hoping to have more time to hang out with Derrick after Spencer went to bed, but when he got out his dad was ruffling his wet hair and telling him that it was time for bed.

He tried to convince his parents to let him stay up, but finally relented when Derrick promised that he was going to stay the night and be there in the morning to take Ryan to school.

“I’m going to run up to the corner store real quick but I’ll come right back. I’ll see you in the morning, little bro.” Derrick said.

Ryan was the only one that Derrick called little bro, so he knew that Derrick’s words were a promise set in stone.

Spencer was tossing and turning in his bed, so Ryan couldn’t fall asleep right away, instead staring at the blank wall and wishing for day to come faster so he could hang out with Derrick. He finally drifted to sleep after hearing the front door open and close, and his parents’ relaxed and hushed voices mixed with Derrick’s own.

 

He woke up and there was light coming in through their window and reflecting on the wall, so Ryan grinned and rolled himself over, flinging off his blanket because it was surprisingly warm in his room. He wanted to check his clock to make sure that it wasn’t too early to go downstairs.

What Ryan remembers best is that the red of his digital Batman clock, which was exclaiming two twenty seven, looked so dim in comparison to the licking oranges and yellows outside of his window but so bright against the black of the curling smoke leaking in through the panes.

If that had been the Ryan of the present, there was so much that he could, and would, have done differently. He might have known to roll out of bed and crawl over to Spencer, making sure to keep close to the floor. He might have known to open the doors to both Ashley and Joel’s rooms, and to wake them up and lead them to the stairs. He might have known the yell for his mom and dad and try to get everyone downstairs and out to the front lawn as fast as possible.

Instead, Ryan, who’s closest brush with death had been watching a squirrel get run over by a semi truck, shut his eyes and prayed for it all to be a nightmare.

It wasn’t for a very long time, but it was long enough. By the time he opened his eyes back up, the fire was right outside of his window, flames flickering and dancing, sending beams of color across his room. In a way, it was a terrifying kind of beauty.

He knew then that it was all real.

His memory of what happened afterwards is fuzzy. He thinks that he yelled for his mom or dad, and that he fell from his bed and hit the floor so hard that Spencer’s army men on the bedside table shook. Then he either tugged on Spencer’s leg to wake him up, or Spencer woke up on his own. Then Spencer was on the floor with him, big fat tears running down his cheeks. Spencer was babbling something, clinging onto Ryan’s shirt as if holding his brother closer would extinguish the flames.

Then the door to Joel’s room flung open. Ryan could see it from where he was on the floor. Joel had somewhat of a hero complex at that age, so Ryan had expected him to burst into the room, scoop them into his arms, and run them down to the front yard. Instead, he watched as Joel headed to Ashley’s room. Less than a minute later, the two of them were heading down the stairs. Below them, Ryan could faintly make out Violet’s barks, but the roar of fire behind them and his heartbeat throbbing inside of his head blocked out other sounds.

It was at that moment that Ryan knew he had been left behind. It was up to him to get himself out. He just had to run.

Spencer held tight to his shirt, stopping Ryan in his tracks. His little brother had always been a little on the thicker side, a lot like their dad, so there was no way that Ryan could carry him out.

“We have to go.” Ryan yelled down. Or maybe he said something like “Spence, we need to run.”

Spencer just whimpered and kept his hold.

He looked into the hallway, where black smoke and golden flames were already filling their home. The fire was moving fast, surrounding them and locking them into place. His back was warm. He didn’t need to turn around to know that the fire behind them was engulfing the wall, pushing to get closer to swallow them up.

Ryan tried to push himself up, but Spencer was dragging him down. He tried to wrench Spencer’s fingers from his shirt, but the boy had a surprising strength.

His blood chilled. If he didn’t get Spencer to let go, they were both going to die, burned up in their dinky little bedroom, surrounded by army men and crappy posters and hand-me-down clothes.

“Ryan! Spence!”

Then, a looming figure, dark as night, looking straight out of comic book, almost as if Batman himself had appeared, Derrick emerged from the smoke in the hallway. He reached and pulled Spencer off of Ryan, lifting the boy into his arms.

“Can you run behind me?” Derrick asked. Ryan nodded.

He doesn’t remember getting off the ground or running through the hallway and down the stairs. He can faintly feel heat was he thinks hard about it, but no pictures or memories come to mind. Nothing until he heard a whimper and a bark in the room next to the stairs. It was a room far away from the front door, where their grandma’s old piano sat, where they stored their backpacks and school projects over the summer, and where little Violet, still too young to be left wandering around the house at night for fear that she chew up something, sleeps in her little crate.

Ryan saw Derrick disappear around the corner, heading for the door, but he knew that he couldn’t leave Violet behind. She was his little baby, who licked his face in the morning and curled up at his feet while he watches a movie. He and Ashley had begged their parents for a dog, promising to take care of her. She was their responsibility.

And he was going to take care of her.

He pushed through the smoke, forgetting everything he’d ever learned about staying near to the ground and not inhaling smoke and not staying in a burning building in order to save a dog even though his entire family had already left the house to seek safety. He found her crate quickly, unlocking it and flinging open the gate.

Violet exploded out of the crate, tearing out of the room and to the door. He jogged after her, fear of burning to death coming back with vengeance. His lungs ached and his entire body felt hot. Flames reached for his body and grabbed at his exposed skin. As he rushed past his home, filled with his things and his memories, he watched them melt and curl into ashy black nothingness. The fire was hot, the smoke was heavy, and his house was old.

For the life of him, Ryan cannot remember the impact. He can only visualize a dark mass coming towards him, and then nothingness.

 

He woke up in a place filled with beeping but no other noises. His body was numb, he couldn’t move his arms because it felt like something was holding them down, his breathing was heavy because something was over his mouth and nose, and he couldn’t see.

Still, even to present day, though he can not remember many of the feelings or moments from the fire itself, Ryan can feel the panic from his awakening in the hospital as if he were still there. It’s a slick, disgusting feeling that coats his entire body.

Nurses and doctors, though he could not see them, were in the room almost immediately. They were asking him questions he didn’t know how to answer, taking off the thing on his mouth and telling him to breath in and out. He couldn’t see anyone, and he felt helpless, trying to ask them what had happened and where his family was without knowing who to ask or who was in charge. He just wanted him mom and dad to come help him.

It wasn’t until the talking got much quieter and a nurse who introduced herself as Nurse Deena told him that she was the only one left in there that he was able to ask where his family was.

“I’m sorry but I don’t know, sweetie.” she had responded. “They’re okay, none of them needed to go to a hospital, but we haven’t seen them here except for when you were first admitted. But don’t you worry! Doctor Alma is going to give them a call and tell them that you’re awake, and I’m sure they’ll be here in a quick sec!”

Doctor Alma, who Ryan would later get to know much better, did get in touch with one member of his family. After near five days of being asleep and alone, he would finally have a visitor.

There was a small knock at the door, implying that someone had come inside. It was weird, but Ryan could feel whoever it was come close to his bed and take a seat in the chair set for visitors. Somehow Ryan could tell that it wasn’t Nurse Deena, and he hated the feeling of helplessness that came with having to wait to know who had arrived.

“Hey little bro.” Derrick said quietly, hand reaching to take Ryan’s. “How’re you feeling?”

“Better now that I’m not alone.” Ryan said, just as quiet. “Is everyone okay?”

“Everyone’s fine. I had to move them somewhere safe, so they couldn’t come to visit. Mom felt horrible about not being able to come give you a hug.”

“Why couldn’t she?”

There was a change in the air, a sort of soft tension filling the space between them. It made Ryan feel sick.

“It’s all my fault, Ryan.” Derrick’s voice cracked, and Ryan was, for the first time, glad that he couldn’t see. He had never seen his brother even come close to crying, and he felt like it was better for both of them if he didn’t see the tears that were probably rolling down Derrick’s face. “I shouldn’t have come to visit you guys. I’m so sorry.”

“What do you mean?” Ryan asked. He felt like crying too but he couldn’t. “You didn’t do anything. You saved Spence.”

“I got into trouble with some guys. It’s a pretty big deal. I was supposed to be hiding out somewhere for the next few months until my guys could lock down their operation and make sure it was safe for me to be walking around again, but I couldn’t leave to go into hiding without saying goodbye to you guys. I was just supposed to drop in, maybe eat dinner and play a quick game and then ditch, but you were so excited to see me, and I didn’t think anyone had seen me go to the house, so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to stay overnight. When I said I was going to the corner store, I was meeting with my friend who was supposed to take me to my safe house to tell him to get me in the morning instead.

“I should have known better, Ryan. I had been warned that these guys weren’t merciful. I know what they’re like, I’ve studied them. It’s all my fault that they set the house on fire.”

“Where’s everyone now?” Ryan asked.

“At the safe house, but I have to get them out of here. I have to go with them to protect them, but you can’t leave yet. You have to stay here until you get better. Some of my friends will come to check on you and protect you until it’s safe for me to come get you or for us to return. I’m sorry, but I have to go.”

“How will I know they’re your friends?”

“You’ll know.”

Ryan tried to grip onto Derrick’s hand to keep him from leaving, but his brother literally slipped from his fingers. Ryan was left alone, scared, and unable to see.

 

Ryan met the first of Derrick’s friends a few hours later. Once again, there was a knock at the door, this time while Nurse Deena was doing a check up. She greeted the person happily, but Ryan had no idea who it could possibly be.

“I’ll give you two some space. See you in an hour.” she said, patting him once on the shoulder.

The person took a seat in the same chair Derrick had been in, and Ryan couldn’t help be feel terrified at the possibility that the person sitting next to him wasn’t an ally.

“You don’t have to be afraid, I’m not going to strangle you.”

So it was a lady. She sounded young and had an accent, but she didn’t sound bad. It was almost as if she was bored with being there already.

“Who are you?” he asked. She snorted.

“You can call me M for now. We’re not supposed to tell you even our code names in case someone comes in here and kidnaps you, so you’ll have to settle for that.”

_“Kidnaps me?”_ he echoed. He could hear the beeping of his heart monitor speed up, but he had other things to worry about. “Why would they do that?”

“Because they might think that you know stuff. Which is why we can’t let you know stuff so you can call me M and nothing else.”

That had been his first meeting with M. She left very soon after, telling him that someone would come to check up on him that night.

The next person to show up, rapping their knuckles on the doorframe and saying a quick hello, introduced themselves as Ip. Once again, Ryan was allowed to know very little about what was going on. He found himself too tired to ask any questions.

Many days went on, and Ryan met not only M and Ip but people he was instructed to call P, Ro, K, C, and D. Besides his brother, there seemed to be seven of them in total. They seemed pretty normal, though M was a bit rude, and Ryan found himself craving their company during the times when he was alone. After spending fifteen years with constant background noise, the quiet of the hospital room and constant darkness was, to be simply put, boring.

He would take boredom over terror.

Nightmares constantly woke him up, leaving him clamping his hand onto the remote and pressing the nurse button until Nurse Deena could come in and assure him that no one else was in the room. Once he had woken to the sound of quiet breathing to his left and he screamed so loud that multiple staff members had come running to his aid. It had turned out to only be C, who had been flipping through a magazine and trying to let him sleep. After that, they had made a rule that visitors weren’t allowed into his room while he was asleep, but it didn’t stop him from being in constant fear that someone was lurking and he couldn’t see them.

Some nightmares were filled with visions of fire, his family running away from him, and Violet’s disembodied barking. Most of them were just darkness with breathing right next to his ears.

 

“You’re a weird kid, but you remind me a lot of Derrick.” D said once, during her daily visit. She and Ro made an effort to visit once a day, trying to step in as a sort of combined mother figure. They forced M to visit too, but she didn’t seem to want anything to do with him. While the others tried to be nice, she went out of her way to mess with him, make jokes, take his food, and complain about how much time she was wasting having to sit there.

Ryan felt a little better everyday, though the doctors still wouldn’t take the bandages off. They had told him all sorts of mumbo jumbo stuff about how his eyes were fine and he’d be able to see again, but it was the skin around his eyes that was burnt. He should have been relieved that his sight was saved and thankful that he was alive at all. Instead he was frustrated that he would have to live with scars for the rest of his life.

He shared his doubts with Ro during one of her visits. Of any of them, he trusted her the most. From what little she’d been able to tell him, most of her life had been spent trying to get away from an abusive family. She knew what it was like to have all aspects of your life in someone else’s control, and wanted to do anything she could to help him feel comfortable.

But, before Ro could react, M’s voice rung out from the other side of the room.

“If you’re going to waste the chance you’ve been given over something as stupid as a few little scars you haven’t even seen, then you didn’t deserve that chance at all.”

She stormed out of the room after that. Ro had run after her, apologizing quickly to Ryan and promising that she’d be back. Ryan felt like he should be the one apologizing to them.

M wouldn’t talk to him anymore. They still made her visit him, not only forcing her to take her own shifts and not saddle others with her responsibilities, but also hoping that the two of them would get along again. Though he had spent many of her past visits wishing that one of the others were there instead, Ryan found that he missed her voice and the way she treated him like a friend instead of an injured kid who couldn’t see her. It wasn’t the first time that he would realize that, in her own way, M had been protecting and helping him all along.

 

Nearly two months after the fire, Nurse Deena and Doctor Alma announced that he was safe to open his eyes back up, they were going to take off his bandages, and he could go home. Somehow, he’d gotten used to the constant dark, and appreciated the calm that he could, at times, get from it. Another part of him was excited to see M, Ro, and the others for the first time. He had mental images of what they looked like, but, after telling P what he once thought he looked like and getting laughed at, he figured that it’d be nicer to actually know.

M couldn’t just leave him in a room after a few hours, knowing that he couldn’t follow her, anymore either.

Doctor Alma waited to cut off his bandages until Ro, D, and K could come. It was an agonizingly slow wait. Ryan wanted so badly to get to see everyone and to take care of his own business. He also wanted to get out of the hospital and reunite with his family. He had missed his siblings so much more than he would have ever imagined, and he couldn’t even bare to think about his parents.

Once he could see again, he could go to the safe house with them. He would no longer slow them down.

“Alright Ryan. You can open your eyes.” Doctor Alma said. Nurse Deena clapped her hands from somewhere to his left, almost as excited as Ryan himself.

The world had been so bright that Ryan physically hurt. He couldn’t keep his eyes open for more than a split second, reaching to shield them with his hands. They tried again with the windows closed and the lights off. Then, again with a blanket over his head. He couldn’t handle the brightness.

Someone gave him a scarf to wrap around his head. There was no longer anything to keep him from crying. Doctor Alma and Nurse Deena took his friends to another room to discuss possible rehabilitation methods, leaving him lying alone on his bed, tears streaming freely down his cheeks.

He refused to see anyone after that, too ashamed of his weakness to let any of them even speak to him. Nurse Deena tried desperately to help him for nearly two weeks. Nothing they tried could block the blinding lights that seemed to burn him when he would open his eyes.

Ryan heard the door open one day. It must have been Deena, back to try something else. He was thankful for her help but was drained of hope that he didn’t want to do anymore stupid exercises.

A light hand dropped onto his forehead, and he suddenly knew that it wasn’t her.

“Hey,” M said, voice quiet and so unlike her in every way, but so loud compared to the silence that had been directed at him for so long. “So I heard about your thing.”

“My thing.” Ryan had responded dryly. Despite his happiness at having her talking to him, he couldn’t mask the frustration in his tone. He wanted her there, but he was so ashamed of himself that he found himself pushing her away. “If you’re here to make fun of me, you can go. I already know how stupid I am.”

“I’m not here to make fun of you. If you thought that was the case, you really are stupid.” Something soft dropped onto his chest. “I wanted to help you. I’ve been a bitch, not talking to you and all, and I wanted to make it up to you. It’s not the most well done, I’m no Christian Dior or anything, but, if there’s any way that it will help you, I want you to have it.”

“What is it?” he asked.

“A bandana. It’s made of some weird material I saw on a dumb fashion show with Ro the other day. It’s some sort of dark material that’s kinda see-through.”

He reached for it, fumbling as he tried to find the corners. M snorted at him, snatching it from his hands so suddenly that he audibly gasped. She had it over his eyes and tied around his head within seconds.

“It was kinda expensive, so tell me if it doesn’t work or if it’s stupid.”

Ryan nodded. He didn’t want to open his eyes, almost fearful that, if it didn’t work, M would take it and leave, never speaking to him again. But she wasn’t that kind of person. She had come to help him, and he had to honor that.

His eyes opened and, finally, for the first time in so long, he could see.

It took a second to register that he was looking at a hospital room. It was very bleak and the material was dark, so it was almost as if he was still looking into darkness, but then he turned his head and there was a person next to him, looking very uncertain of something. He could see the dark figure of a girl who looked to be a few years older than him, with long brown hair that had streaks of purple in the bangs and surprisingly doe-like eyes. This person didn’t look to be anything like the M he had imagine inside of his mind, but he found himself so awestruck at the sight of her that he couldn’t have asked for anything different.

He couldn’t see much after that because he had flung his arms around her and buried his face into her shoulder.

Doctor Alma had given him a huge hug when she found out. Nurse Deena screamed.

 

They let Ryan go home two days later.

There wasn’t much of a home for him to go to. He was still too unreliable to go to the safe house. Without his bandana, he couldn't keep his eyes open. That could cause trouble if they were being chased or attacked and it fell off. Apparently, there was a unanimous decision that he could stay at the base with the others until he was ready to leave. He hadn’t been given much of a say in the whole ordeal. Honestly, he was glad that he hadn’t been kidnapped in his time at the hospital.

The gang threw a large celebration the first night that he was there. Finally, he was allowed to learn everyone’s codenames and a few things about them. It would have been a lot to take in if he didn’t already know them a little.

M’s real name was Minx. She was twenty, five years older than him, and had moved to Los Santos from the UK about four years earlier.

Ro’s name was Krism, but Ro came from her official codename, which was KrismPro. She, like Minx, hadn’t been raised in Los Santos. Instead, she was from a smaller town near the border of where California, Nevada, and Arizona all met which she had left four years before. She was nineteen.

D’s name was Doxy. She was twenty and had been born and raised in Los Santos.

P was called Pewds, but his full codename was Pewdiepie. He was twenty one and had been born in Sweden but had moved to Los Santos with his family when he was nine.

C stood for Cry. Ryan thought at first that they were joking with him, but Cry’s actual name was Cryaotic, and Ryan figured that it made a little sense. He was just like Doxy, also being twenty years old and having grown up in Los Santos.

K’s name was Ken, though his complete codename was Cinnamon Toast Ken, and he was twenty two. Ryan had known K to be the most responsible and adult of them all, and he was reaffirmed of this fact during the party when Ken stopped Minx and Cry from getting in a brawl. He had been born in Oregon but hated his life there, moving to the Los Santos area once he got his independence at eighteen.

The final one, Ip, was the most confusing for Ryan to understand. Ip’s real name was Markiplier, who went by Mark. Because M had been taken by Minx, and P by Pewds, Mark decided to go with Ip from ‘iplier’. He was twenty and had lived in Los Santos since he was two.

That was the group that he had met while in the hospital. They were all the ones that regularly worked with Derrick on assignments and missions and such. There were more, but they didn’t want to overwhelm him on his first night at the base.

The base itself was a warehouse near one of the more affluent downtown areas where a lot of the expensive restaurants and shops were set up. It was quite large, but nothing out of the ordinary. The inside had been constructed into three floors- an upstairs with bedrooms, a ground floor with living spaces and a kitchen, and a basement where the armory was set up.

Minx and Krism brought him to Derrick’s room when he got tired, showing him where the closest bathroom was and giving him some pajamas. Krism dropped a quick and sweet kiss to his forehead, tucking him in, and then leaving. He felt oddly safe wrapped in Derrick’s room, despite being in a strange place surrounded by gang members. He slept the best that he ever had.

 

After that, life for him was spent staying out of everyone’s way and staying confined to the living room, kitchen, and Derrick’s room. Some of the gang didn’t trust him, especially since he was wearing a bandana and they couldn’t see his eyes, but most of them were nice to him. A few made a habit of telling him stories about Derrick, or facts about his brother and new friends that he hadn’t known. For one, Mark was Derrick’s best friend, and the one who had been there the night of the fire to take Derrick to the safehouse. Another, something that shocked Ryan quite a bit, was that everyone thought Derrick and Minx had a thing going on but had never been able to confirm it. For some reason, no matter how much he liked them both and saw similar features in them, something about it didn’t feel right. He brushed it off as being because Derrick was his older brother and Minx was his friend.

 

Ryan and Minx were sitting on a couch in the living room and watching a stupid romance movie when everything he thought he knew changed. Ryan could see surprisingly well with the bandana, so they figured that it would be a great opportunity to sit on the couch and watch a movie marathon of whatever was on tv. Krism and Doxy were going to join them in a little while, both having things to finish up within the base, and Mark was planning to attend once he got back from checking on Ryan’s family.

The couple on tv, the ones that the two of them had been making fun for an hour and thirty two minutes, had finally buckled up and shared their feelings after avoiding each other and having all sorts of odd miscommunications. They were both in a gang, but there were all sorts of complications, like how the guy was the gang boss and the girl had never known family or companionship. The girl got kidnapped and almost died, prompting the two of them to finally realized that life was too short to run circles around each other.

“That is so cliché.” Ryan said, taking a handful of popcorn and shoving it into his mouth.

“As if that would ever happen in real life. People in gangs can’t end up together. It’s not safe.” Minx grumbled. Ryan shot up, nearly knocking the bowl of popcorn onto the floor. She sent him a subdued look, too lazy to actually have a reaction. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing.” he said, much to quickly. He smoothed a few kernels off of his pants. “I was just wondering why you think that?”

“Why I think what?”

“That people in gangs can’t be together.”

Minx rolled her eyes and muttered something under her breath, pulling a pillow close to her body and clinging to it. She looked everything of a lovesick and heartbroken woman that Ryan suddenly felt the need to comfort her. The end of the movie, credits rolling on the screen, was forgotten.

“Why can’t they?” he pressed.

“Because it’s too dangerous of a lifestyle. You get too used to seeing friends die and disappear to give your whole life to someone else in the field. Besides, you basically marry your partner if you have one. You can’t ever be closer to someone than that.”

She must be talking about Derrick, Ryan decided. Minx was a good person, and Derrick was a good person, and Ryan, as someone who cared about both of them, needed to take the situation into his own hands so that the two of them could be like the people in the movie and realize that life was too short to run circles around each other. It was now or never.

“Just because Derrick is in hiding doesn’t mean that you can’t be together!” Ryan blurted out. Minx’s head snapped around to look at him, mouth agape and eyes wide.

“Excuse me?”

“I’m sure that you can send letters back and forth through Mark, he said that he might let me do it so there’s no reason why you wouldn’t be able to. Besides, they’re only in hiding until you take care of those guys, and the whole gang has been working on that, so he’ll be back before you even know it. And you two are really strong, I’m sure, and are really good at being in a gang so you’ll both survive! And it’ll be-”

“Woah, woah, woah.” Minx said. She no longer looked sad, now like she was about to burst out laughing. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

“You and Derrick.”

“What about us, exactly?”

“That you’re secretly in love.”

“And who told you that?”

“A few people.” he admitted. “Is it not true?”

“No, it’s not.” she said, grin large on her face.

“Oh. But you seemed so upset when you were talking that I assumed it was from personal experience.”

“It was. Just, not about your brother.”

He perked up at that. “Then who?”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“Yes it does! I’ll help you.”

“Why would you want to do that?”

“Because we’re friends, obviously.” he said, rolling his eyes. “That’s what friends do for each other.”

“Yeah, maybe high school friends. Not gang friends.”

“I’m not a part of the gang. And I’m in high school. So we’re kinda high school friends.”

“No we’re not.”

“Tell me who it is.”

“No.”

“Tell me!”

“No.”

“Here, I have an idea,” She shook her head, but he ignored her. “I’ll list some names, and you just nod your head if I’m right. That way you don’t have to say it out loud.”

“That’s dumb.”

“No it’s not! My friends and I did it to find out our friend Brandon’s crush.”

“So what?”

“So, it’ll work now. Here I go.”

“Cut it out.”

“Pewds?”

“Ryan, this is dumb.”

“Ken?”

“I’m not going to play your stupid game.”

“Cry?”

“No way.”

“Mark?”

“As if.”

“Derrick?”

“We already covered this.”

“Is that a yes or a no?”

“Obviously that’s a no, you dork.”

“Russ?”

“He wishes.”

“Nick?”

“Who?”

“Nick.”

“I don’t know who that is.”

“How do you not know who Nick is? He’s in this gang.”

“Why should I know who everyone is?”

“You’re all in a gang!”

“That means nothing to me.”

Ryan groaned, throwing his head back onto the cushion. “I don’t know who else it could be! I would guess that it’d be your boss, since you like power and all, but you guys don’t have one.”

“Don’t need one.”

“Yeah, I got that by now.”

There was a calm quiet between them, something they were getting more and more used to as time went by. The opening theme to another movie was playing.

“Is he at least nice?”

“I’m a lesbian, Ryan.”

“Oh.” he answered. Then he sat back up to look quizzically at her. “You’re a lesbian?”

“Yeah. You can’t tell anyone, though. You’re the only person on this continent that knows.”

“So you don’t like guys?”

“Yes, Ryan, that’s what a lesbian is, after all.”

“So you like one of the girls in your gang?”

“It doesn’t matter who I like. Forget it.”

“No! Now I want to know!”

“You’ve always wanted to know.” she pointed out. He ignored her.

“If I’m the only person who knows that you’re a lesbian, then I should be the person you can trust to know who you like.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Of course it matters! Just because your a lesbian doesn’t mean that you like someone any different.”

“Stop calling me a lesbian!”

“Why? It’s true!”

“What’s true?” Doxy asked, coming into the living room with a fresh bowl of popcorn. Krism was behind her. She smiled brightly at the two of them.

“Nothing!” they exclaimed in unison. Doxy and Krism shared a humored look.

“It’s so nice that the two of you get along. I thought that you might hate each other.” Doxy said.

“Nope! Minx gets along with all guys.” Ryan said. “Especially my brother Derrick. They’re in love.”

“We’re not.” Minx snapped.

“Well, no, they’re not, but Minx loves a guy. All guys, actually.”

“Shut your fucking mouth.” she hissed.

“Oh my god, this movie is so great! Come watch!” Ryan eagerly patted the seat next to him.

“What’s it about?” Krism asked, making her way to the couch. Doxy went to side of the couch near Minx.

“Uh, people.”

“You don’t say.” Krism said, raising an eyebrow.

“You should just watch it and find out, ha ha.” He reached forward to boop her nose. “Silly-Willy.”

“Stop talking.” Minx said.

“Okay.”

The movie actually wasn’t about people at all. There wasn’t a single person in the film. It was a feel-good about talking animals.

 

Ryan and Minx didn’t get an opportunity to talk one on one for another week. They found themselves seated next to each other at one of the four tables in the dining room, staying up to do work after everyone else had gone to bed. Though Ryan wasn’t allowed to return to school yet, especially since his school still hadn’t gotten over visible bra straps so there was no way they were going to allow his bandana, his teachers had sent his homework via email. At times when he was bored, he would sit down with Mark or Cry’s laptop and finish a few assignments.

Minx was clicking through a ninety page document, trying to find some details that would help her with some sort of mission, and drinking coffee from a slurpee cup. Where the slurpee cup had come from and why she was using it and its straw instead of a regular mug, he wasn’t sure, but he had learned that Minx was just odd like that. He had, in the week or so that he’d been living in the base, come to love the eccentricities of each of his friends.

Doxy sometimes walked around the base in her sleep and could regularly be found sitting upright on tabletops and counters in the morning, still dead asleep.

Krism couldn’t stand wet towels being left on the floor, which, for some odd reason, happened a lot in their base.

Mark cried at the end of any movie, happy or sad. It wasn’t a lot of tears but it was enough that everyone knew he’d been crying.

Pewds needed to stop any time he saw a dog. On the fifth day living in the base, Ryan accidentally found his secret instagram where he posted pictures of every dog he pet.

Ken was really into couponing. It was to the point where the grocery store down the street owed him money after shopping trips.

Cry was just really chill. He could do really good voices for scary stories and stuff but Ryan didn’t think that was eccentric so much as entertaining.

Anyways, that wasn’t important at all. What was important was that Ryan and Minx were finally alone with each other.

“So,” he started. “Girls.”

“What about them?” Minx said, eyes staying fast to the computer screen.

“You like them.” he said quietly.

“Yeah. I do.”

“So do I.”

“I figured, with the way you’ve been acting and all.”

“I’m not worried!” he exclaimed. “It’s not like you’ll take them all.”

“I can’t take them all, you goon, I can only date one. Besides, I can only get the ones that are gay, so you shouldn’t have to worry.”

“Oh.” he said. “I have a friend who’s bi. Her name’s Kitti.”

“Good for her.”

They were both quiet for a moment.

“Listen,” Minx said, leaning back in her chair and closing the laptop. “Me being a lesbian doesn’t change anything. I’m not a different person. There wasn’t a change when I went from being M to being Minx, so there shouldn’t be one from being ‘straight’ to being ‘gay’. If anything, it just gives us one more thing in common.”

“Liking girls?” Ryan suggested.

“Knowing my secret,” she said. “But I guess we can go with liking girls.”

He nodded, looking down at his fingers.

“Why does it have to be a secret?”

“Because it does.” she said, shrugging. “Most people don’t even like gays in this city, not to mention lesbians.”

“But doesn’t it bother you that people think that you’re straight when you’re not?”

“No. It’s safer for me. That’s why I had to leave the UK after all. Besides, what does it matter what they think?”

“You had to leave the UK because you were gay?”

Minx nodded. “Some of the country is more accepting, but I came from a place where being homosexual was an illness. When things were looking especially bad between my parents and I, to the point where I was no longer safe in my own home, I snuck aboard a cargo ship and ended up here.”

“Were you scared?”

“When?”

“On the ship.”

“I guess.” she said quietly. “I hadn’t known where it was going or for how long I would be on it, and had only packed enough food and water for a few days. My hope was that it would take me to London, but it was probably better that it took me away from Europe entirely. My dad was a police chief and would’ve found me if I was still near the UK.”

“How’d you survive if you didn’t have enough food?”

“The captain found me, actually. I was only sixteen. I didn’t know where to go once I was on the ship. I hid between some boxes for a while, but he found me within the first week. There were only five of them on board, so he spotted me on one of the cameras on the fifth day. They were kind to me, though.”

“But you weren’t scared?”

“Of course I was scared. I had never been outside of the country, and each day I regretted leaving my friends and my home, but I knew that it was better if I was away. I was more scared of what might have happened to me if I would have stayed.”

“It was that bad?” he asked.

“It was that bad.” she answered.

The unknown beyond that statement made Ryan feel sick.

“Do you miss it?”

“What?”

“Your home. Do you miss your home?”

She thought for a moment, eyes scanning the ceiling as if searching for something.

“I miss my childhood. I miss the years before I realized I was gay, and my friends, and my home. I miss England. But, I’m an overall happier person knowing that I’m safe to be myself here when I wasn’t there.”

“But you don’t act like you’re safe to. You don’t want people to know.”

“I guess you’re right.” she laughed a wet and sad laugh. “But at least I have the freedom to beat people up should they say some shit.”

“They can’t say shit if you don’t tell them.”

“Perfect.”

This time, their silence was somewhat sad. Ryan wished that a movie theme song was playing so he could think about something else.

“Can I ask you one more question? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, but, if you do, I want you to be honest.”

“Go ahead.”

“Do you like someone that I know?”

She had no reaction for so long that Ryan thought she wasn’t going to answer. Finally, just when he opened his mouth to talk about something else, she spoke.

“Yeah.”

“You don’t think they like you back?” he asked.

“You said only one more question.” she answered.

The sadness in her eyes was the only answer he needed.

 

Two days later, his life got a whole lot weirder.

The two of them were back in the same living room as before. **Wheel of Fortune** was on, and they were yelling out ridiculous words that could fit in the blanks. During the commercial breaks, they were talking about more serious stuff. Since their talk in the dining room, they had been much more open with each other, confiding in each other any and all doubts. Minx talked about her concerns of others discovering her sexuality, Ryan confessed his need to keep the bandana on and hide his scars despite his growing ability to see without it on.

A commercial about men’s deodorant was on when Minx finally let the bomb drop.

“I like Krism.” she blurted.

“You what?”

“I know. It’s bad.” she sobbed. However, there was a beaming smile on her face because she had finally, finally, gotten it off of her chest. “I like her a lot. Like, I really like her.”

“Why are you telling me this now?” he asked, voice at a much higher pitch than he’d like to admit.

“Because I need your help.”

“Anything.” he said. He had decided that whatever Minx asked of him, he would do. She had helped him in so many ways and was his best friend.

“I need you to pretend that we’re dating.”

_**“Wheel of Fortune!!!”** _

“No way.”

“Why?” she exclaimed.

“Because I’m fifteen and you’re twenty! That’s illegal!”

“We won’t have to do anything. I just want to see if Krism gets a little jealous.”

“Absolutely not.”

“But Ryan!”

“No. Making Krism jealous by dating a minor is not the way to go about things.”

“No one thinks of you as a minor.”

“Half of the gang refers to me as ‘the kid’.”

“Well, you are the kid.”

“Exactly! There is no way that it would work.”

“It will!”

“No. I won’t do it.”

“You have to,” she hissed. “Because Krism is going to be here in like two minutes and it’s now or never.”

“I’m going to leave and you can just talk to her like a normal person.” Ryan said, grabbing at his notebook and his blanket.

“You can’t leave me here by myself! It’ll be a disaster!”

“It’ll be fine, Minx. You’re a grown woman.” He stood from the couch just as Minx decided that she could not, no matter what, let Ryan leave her alone. So, in a very Minx like way, she decided to stop him with force by throwing herself at him.

They ended up in a pile on the floor with Minx on top of him. He was so stunned by his impact with the ground that he just laid there.

The door opened.

“Hey, sorry I-” Both of their heads shot to look at the door where Krism, lovely and kind Krism, was standing, looking like she’d seen a ghost.

“It’s not what it-”

“Whoops! We got too carried away! You know how couples are, ha ha ha.” Minx said, pushing herself up from the ground. “Silly us.”

“Couple? You two?” Krism echoed, eyes large and owlish.

“You caught us!” Minx exclaimed. “It was supposed to be a secret.”

“No, Krism, it’s not-” Minx pinched his leg where it was hidden by his blanket and twisted. He squealed. Krism looked like she wanted to disappear.

“I, uh, wow. Is that really okay?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Minx asked. He opened his mouth to answer it himself, but another pitch shut him up.

“Well, Ryan’s only fifteen, and you’re, uh, not.”

“It’s no big deal. We’re not going to do anything until he’s eighteen.”

“Or at all.” Ryan grumbled. Another pinch.

“I don’t know if-”

“It’ll be fine, Krism. We’re in love and that’s all that matters.”

“Then, congrats, I guess.”

“Thank you!” Minx said, laughing merrily. Ryan wished that she would choke on her own spit.

“Well, I’m gonna go.” Krism said.

“You just got here.” Minx said.

“I forgot to do something. Bye.”

She practically sprinted away, door slamming behind her. Ryan couldn’t blame her at all. He wished that he could sprint away too.

“You’re fucking insane.”

“It has to be this way, Ryan.”

“No it doesn’t.”

“Yes it does.” She stood up, taking his hand and pulling up with her. “Anyways, I was thinking that we could have pet names for each other.”

“No.”

“Yes. You can be Pookie and I’ll be mom.”

“There’s no way that I will ever call you mom.”

“I thought it might be more realistic if you had a mom kink.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Fine. Then I’ll be Boo.”

“I should be boo because then it’s like you’re a ghost and then it’ll explain why I’m so afraid of you.”

“Why am I dating you again?”

“You’re not!”

.

.

.

“Hold up, hold up. You guys pretended to date?” Delirious asked.

“Yeah. It was the worst few weeks of my life.” Ohm said.

“It was weeks?” His voice was so full of wonder that Ohm suddenly felt a little embarrassed.

“Somehow, I don’t think that’s the weirdest part of my story so far.”

“Nope, not at all. I think it’s that you still thought you were straight.”

“Shut up.”

.

.

.

Minx decided to amp it up a notch a week or so later.

They were sitting at lunch with all of the people Ryan knew and cared about, when Krism, who had been avoiding the two of them, walked into the room. Minx figured that it was an opportunity too perfect to waste. Ryan figured that, after this, he might as well lock himself in his room and never come out again.

“We’re doing it.” Minx whispered to him.

“Whatever ‘it’ is, we’re not.”

“Yes we are.” Before Ryan could say anything else, Minx had already made uncomfortably intense eye contact with him, exclaiming, in possibly the loudest voice she had ever used, “Pookie! Could you pass me the pepper?”

Ryan wanted to die.

“Pookie?” Pewds echoed.

“Oops, sorry Ryan. I didn’t mean to out us like that.” she said.

“Please stop talking.” he begged.

“Out us?” Pewds and Cry echoed.

“Ryan is Pookie?” Doxy asked.

“Yes, he is.” Minx said.

“He is?” Pewds, Cry, and Mark echoed.

“I’m not.” Ryan said.

“There’s no use hiding it now, babe.” Minx said. She ignored his plea of ‘don’t call me that’, choosing instead of continue talking. “Ryan and I are dating.”

“You’re what?” the group shouted.

“That’s illegal.” Ken boomed.

“We’re in a gang,” Minx pointed out. “That’s illegal too.”

“But, dating a minor is, uh, how do I say this nicely-” Ken started.

“Bad.” Pewds finished.

“It’s not like we’re doing anything.” Minx said.

“You better not be. I might kill you if you were.” Doxy said. Minx rolled her eyes and, for a moment, Ryan wondered if she was actually getting a bit offended.

“It’s not that big of a deal.” Minx grumbled.

“Yes it is. It’s a pretty big deal.” Cry said.

“Whatever. If y’all don’t want to support us, that’s fine.” She rose from the chair and left. All eyes turned to Ryan.

“I, uh, gotta go.” he said. He wanted to tell them that it was all one big mistake, but that would be hard to do without telling them all about Minx’s sexuality.

 

None of them would talk to him about anything but his ‘relationship’ afterwards. When Ken tried to slide him a pack of condoms one day, he decided that this all had to end.

“You have to tell them.” he said.

“I can’t!"

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t know how they’ll react.”

“Minx, they’re your friends. They love you.” he said. “Besides, now they think that you’re dating a kid so being gay isn’t going to seem bad at all.”

“You’re a dork.” she said, but she smiled at him and he knew that she was going to be okay.

“If you want me there, I’ll be right by your side.”

“How is a kid like you such an adult sometimes?” she asked, pulling him into a hug. “Thank you.”

“Of course. You’re my best friend, Boo.”

“What are you? A ghost?”

The two of them laughed so long that all of Ryan’s troubles disappeared. For now, they didn’t matter. He had to be there for Minx.

She told their friends that night. Just as Ryan suspected, they all supported her one hundred percent of the way. Doxy cried tears of joy when she realized that their relationship had been fake.

By the next morning, Minx and Krism were dating. Minx and Ryan told each other everything, but he still never found out exactly what had happened. It would forever be a mystery for him but, as long as Minx was happy, he was happy.

.

.

.

“So all it took was Minx saying she was gay for her and Krism to get together?” Delirious asked.

“Yep.”

“Why didn’t she just do that in the first place?”

“That’s what I told her to do!” Ohm yelled. He winced, hand reaching to pat his wound. “Sorry, it still fresh.”

“Your wound?”

“My memory.”

“You’re dumb.”

Ohm grinned. “Anyways, that’s that.”

Delirious gave him a questioning look.

“That’s not the end.” he said. Ohm chuckled.

“No, it’s not. But it covers my initial friendship with Minx, and then a little more.”

“But what about the rest?”

“If I told you all of it, we’d be here for the rest of the week, if not longer.”

Delirious crossed his arm, lip jutting out to exclaim his pout.

“Then when will you tell me the rest?”

Ohm thought for a moment.

“Someday, I guess.”

“Pinky promise?” Delirious asked, sticking his pinky out. Ohm, without missing a beat, presented his own outstretched pinky.

“Pinky promise.”

**Author's Note:**

> Was this good or interesting to anyone? I had a ton of fun writing it and want to write some more stories of Ohm, Minx, and all the others in the future, so hopefully you are all interested! 
> 
> Feel free to check out It's Only Begun, which this is based off of, or my Tumblr at goldiegooblog! 
> 
> Thanks so much for reading!


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